Vehicle fifth-wheel.



H. HESS.`

VEHICLE FIFTH WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 9| I9I1.

1,169,152. l Patented Jan. 25, 1916.

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H. HESS.

VEHICLE FIFTH WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED Dic. s. 1911.

Patented Jan. 25, 1916.

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HENRY HESVS, OF PHILADELPHIA, ENNSYLVANIA ASSIGNOR TO THE HSS-BRIGHT MANUFACTURING COMPANY, or PriILnIiELri-iin,

Tron 0F DELAWARE.

License. y

T0 all 107mm t may concern v i l Be it known that I, HENRY Hess, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and` State of Pennsylvania, have invented cermentalities stands somewhat alone in `its utilities and functions and in the .require` ments of design, construction and other contain new and useful ln'iprovements` in Vehicle Fiftli-lVheels, of which the following is a speciication, 'reference being khad therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to improvements in fiftli-wheels for vehicles, the `fifth-wheel being that part of thevehicle which is interl posed between the vehicle body above and the truck or axle below, tofpermit the latter and the pair of wheels carried by it to be revolved or swung. The ordinary wagon fifthwheel consists of a pair of engaging disks, circles or members, theupperdisk attached to the wagon body, the lower `oneto the wheel axle, the ytwo being lubricated and there being a central pin or stud known as the king pin, serving to attachthe whole together and maintain the parts in proper relation.

An object of the present invention is to afford a superior construction of fifthlwheel and particularly one which permits all sliding contact and all `sliding friction to be replaced by rolling contact and rolling friction. n f g Subsidiary objects of the present improvements are to afford a housing wliicli'may be rendered closed or tight to exclude water and dirt and to prevent the escape of' lubricant; also to afford a device wherein only rolling friction occurs, which device will be of a design that will be operative and eiliwheels, that isf to say, diameters `which are fairly large but considerably smaller* than v responding parts in the several figures of the the width of the vehicle itself; also to avoid the objection of a device which if constructed on wrong principles would be too flexible for practical usek as a fifthrwheel; for example, bearingsy designed for' turn tables would be unavailable owing to this objection; also to avoid the deleterious effect and injury which would result from existing inaccuracies in the forni of the parts ora change of shape thereof due to wear; also to avoid the objections of loose ballsior rolling elementsheld in place only perpherally Specification of LettersPate'iit.

of the improvements;

cient at diameters suitablefor vehicle fifth-y similar to Figi 2 illustrating the same vemi VEH'ICLE FIFTH-WHEEL.

Patented Jan.. 25, i916.

Application filed December 9, r1911. Serial No. 664,707.

byk the opposing contact of the upperA and expensive to manufacture but easy of action and durable.

The lifthwheel among mechanical instruditions resulting therefrom. The desiderata above set forth are all importantfor an entirely satisfactory fifth-wheel, and in addition the limits above .and below which the `devices diameter may not pass, impose and PENNSYLVNIA, A CORPORA- ,lower disks; also to afford a structure not.

nation of parts and arrangements as here-` f inafter set forth, described and illustrated.

I will first describe embodiments of my features in the claims.

*In the vaccompanying drawings forminga part hereof, Figure l represents an interior vcentral cross-section of the same taken on the plane 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of a modified embodiment bcdiment as that disclosedfin Fig. 3. f Similar letters ofreference designate corthey will be seen to consist of more than*y mere disks'or circles; the upper member A adapted to be attached to aV wagon body, and ythe lower member B to lthe truck or axle.

For such attachment each member may have invention, and will then point out the novell f top view of the parts `of one *form of fiftli- 4wheel embodying my invention, and may be and Fig. l isa view any suitable means such kasltlie attaching members.

disks L and Z) respectively, each of which is shown suitably perforated at its periphery for the reception of bolts or the like. f In each embodiment of my invention in addition tothe two members A and B referred to,ythere will bethe following features. and in a broad Sense the 'presentin` .vention may be said to consist of thecombiiiation of all of the features designated by reference letter vin this paragraph,.it being' borne viny mind, however, that since a device of this kind is susceptible of inversion, the designation of a feature as pertainingv to one of the members A or B, must be taken `to indicate the possiblereversal in that respect. Secured to, or preferably f comprised with and constituting apart of one of the members, namely the upper member A, is 4a vertical stud C projecting centi'ally int-o the interior of the other member Y B. To permitengagement between the stud C and the member B' without involving,l sliding'frictioin one or moreannular roller bearingsl), arranged horizont-ally and concentric with the stud, are interposed between the stud C and member B. This wheels F, F, F are employed, located at a substantial distance from the stud C and .eachwheel havingl an axle portion and a .riin portion, one connected to or contacting with the member A, and the other with the member B for affording rolling Contact and frictionbetween the peripheriesof said two Each of the several vertical roller wvheels may be said to have rim contact with rLio one of the members A and Band axial support from the other. The combination thus set forth is one permitting' all of the conditions hereinabove recited, which` may be vcarried out by the further details illustrated inthe drawings .and hereinafter described as follows: p.

In order to fully carry out the idea of avoiding sliding` contact rand friction, my preferred embodiment of the present invention contemplates that each of the roller .wheels F shall in and of itself consist ofV an annular roller .bearing whose outer race 'f rolls for example upon a fiat annular track ,(7, formed'in the member B, while the inner race 7 performs the function of ya hub or axle and has support from, Yby being l secured in rigid relation to, the member A. The lmanner, of connecting),` the inner race f.

with the member A maybe varied,as will be 4hereinafter described more in detail.

"Ordinary typesfof rolling` elements suchas balls will be inserted' between the inner and outer racesf, f, in any well known manner.

In each embodiment of my invention the member B will preferably ,be constructed in the form of a casing separable or unseparablehaving suilicient vertical dimension to encompass and protect the several rolling elements or bearings, and it is also preferred that the interior be made proof against the .entrance ofwater, dirt andthe like, and against thefleakage of lubricants therefrom.

It will be understood that tl e wheels F, F, F acting` as rollers receive ythe thrust caused by the weight of the wagon body or compression otherwise produced between the members A and B, while the bearings D, E Constitute radial bearings holding the ineinbers in proper concentric relations and therewith respect to therbody.

In each embodiment of myinvention it is preferred that the construction shall be Y lockedy against relative separation, which may be done by means of flanges or other well known expedients.V

Ihe vabove description states generally `the construction of a fifth-wheel embodying my invention,'and it applies equally to both of the modifications illustrated in `the drawings] hereof. I will now describe the further details of the embodiment shown in Figs. l and 2, and will thereafter similarly .describe the details lof Figs. 3 and l. n

A convenient means of supporting the roller wheels RF, vF upon the upper mem-- ber A of the fifth-wheel so as topermit the rims of said wheels to roll upon the ktracks g, is as follows: I prefer-to provide the member A with a plurality of relatively: fixed supliiorting devices whereby the wheels F, F, F are heldin spaced apart position, and this may be effected by securing rigidly upon the stud. C a web or Spider device H, having' apluralityof vradially projecting arms It, each of which extends outwardly to substantially the periphery of the members A, B, and there has connected to it the hub or laxle f of one of the wheels F. yThe end of .cated between the members ,A and rB, near their peripheries are adapted to receive any thrust yor compressionbetween the members.

-I will now describe a feature which serves n several functions, namely tofeid'ect an interlocking between members and B so as'to Vprevent their vertical separation, to tightly inclose and protect the bearings and wheels, and further to aord for the wheels F a track not only below but above, so that each -Whee may act eri-,either .track acQQrdns t0 in the sense hereof.

^ any relative inclination between the members A, B, thus increasing the eflectiveness of the improvement. Before describing this feature it should be made clear thaty the fifth-wheel member A in the sense hereof, includes not only the disk o havingmeans for attaching it to the wagon `bodyand the stud C extending downwardly fromsaid disk, but also the device H with its webs or arms it; all of which are rigidly secured together into what is in effect a single yinechanical member. The' parts which `may move in a horizontal arc relatively tothe member A together constitute the member B The member B is shown as comprising substantially a completehousing made up of parts (l, G," which arepreferably detachably connected by bolts g2 or the lil-:e to en able the assemblage of the entire mechanism. rllhe lower part (ir ofV the member B contains or has formed on it the annulartrack g already mentioned. The upper part G: is seen to have formed upon it a similar track g opposed to the track 'g and located directly above the path ofthe wheels F, F, F. is shown there is a slight clearance between the wheels and the upper track g', since the wheels must not touch both tracks at once, although sometimes when an inclined st ain is imposed one or more ofthe wheelsmight run upon thek upper tack instead of the lower. This also would occurif the wagon body were lifted and the wagon axleV or truck allowed to hang by itsfweight, thus depressing the member B relatively to member A. By this arrangement, an interlock ing of members A, B is effected, for the engagement of wheels F, F, F, with track g precludes motion of eitherI away vfrom the other. This arrangement also has the result that inclined forces 'may lift one or more of the wheels from the lower to the upper track, which latter affords resisting contact so that with three wheels substantially six contacting points of resistance are afforded. The arrangement described also enables the member B to be constructed in the form of a housing entirely inclosing the wheels F, F, F and bearingsD, E, thus keeping the parts clean and preventing leakage of'lubricants. This result is effected by the design of the parts G, G of the member B, they affording two circular horizontal walls and a circular vertical. wall connecting them. To more completely protect the interior a central cap l may be attached across the `bottom of member B, thus inclosing the lower end of the stud C; and at the upper side of member B a dust and oil-proof connection or packing may be employed, located, for example, between the part G below and the disk o above. l prefer to employ at this point a. labyrinth packing produced by ribsV a, g3 alternately depending from disko and profairly consistent gaging the betweenrio grooves of the other and "the entire labyrinth being filled with a grease before the parts are y assembled.l y

The above described lifth-wheel effectively answers the objects and purposes of the present invention, and it is seen to afford a compact, self-contained, smooth running mechanism, well protected in every way and affording such full and easy play as is desirable for a mechanism of this class.

l will now describe the embodiment of the present invention which is illustrated in Figs'. 3 and 4f. ln this embodiment the member 1B is seen to have an attaching flange ZJ for attaching it to a vehicle trucker axle, and also the vertical outer wall ZJ giving the member suflicient vertical dimension to substantially inclose the wheels F, F, F. The member' also has the inner wall b2 which forms a base upon which its other parts are formed or secured; and the wall b2 is shown as ofsuthcient vertical dimension to permit *two spaced apart horizontally arranged radial bearings D, E to be interposedbetween it and stud C. The bearings D, E correspond to bearings l), E rin Figs. l and 2, and are roller bearings, for example of the type having rolling balls between inner and outer races.

The three roller wheels F, F, F may be supported upon the upper member A of the fifth-wheel so as to permit the rims f of "said wheels to roll upon the tracks g of memberB, as follows: Depending from the member A and forming part of 1t, is an annular flange J. At three or more prefer- Amay be formed with steps, thus aii'ording shoulders, and with a securing nut je locked into place by a pin ys.

ln order to render the entire mechanism tight against the entry of dirt and exit of lubricants, I prefer to provide the member with a depending flange a located outwardly of the vertical flange or wall of member B, and at its lower end provided with a rim or ring o2 overlapping the member B and thus aiding to exclude dirt as well as to keep the mechanism interlocked against vertical separation of the members A, B.

It will be seen that by reason of the constructionabove shown and described a ve hicle fifth-wheel is provided which answers the objects land vaffords the advantages of vthe invention as hereinbefore set forth, and

`vthe lower member, .an upper and a lower horizontal radial bearing interposed between said stud and said lower member, and

three or more spaced-apart vertical rollerk wheels within and near the periphery of saidlower member, having rim contact with only the hollow lower member and having their hubs supported by rigid connection to the upper-member.

vehicle fifth-wheel comprising in combination two cooperating members adapted to be connected to the vehicle body and aXle respectively, one of said members having an annular peripheral flange constitilting of .it a hollow housing, the second member having rigid with it a central stud projecting vertically. into the hollow of the first member, an upper yand 4a lower liori- Zontal radial bearing located in the hollow of the first member and interposed between vsaid stud and said first member, and three or more spaced-apart vertical'roller wheels said stud and said first member, and three or more spaced-apart vertical roller wheels betweenV and near the peripheries of said members, having rim contact with oneonly ofl said members and having their hubs sup-V ported by rigid connection to the other member, the said first member formed with internal .tracks both above and below said wheels, spaced apartslightly more than the wheels diameters. Y l.

fl. A vehicle fifth-wheel comprising in combination two coperating members, the

struction, thel second member having rigid with it a central stud projecting vertically into the first member, an axially elongated Yfirst of said members having a hollow conbearing device interposed between said stud Y combination two coperating members, they first of said members having a hollow construction, the second member having rigid with it a central stud projecting vertically into the first member, an axially elongated bearing device interposed between said stud and said first member, and three or more spaced-apart vertical roller wheels between and near the peripheries of said members, having rim contact with one only of said members and having their hubs supported by rigid connection to the other member, th(` said firsty member formed with internal tracks both above and below said wheels, spaced apart slightly more than the wheels diameters.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ENRY HESS.

' lVitnesses:v

C. S. BUTLER,

B. KENNEDY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained`for ve cents each, byv addressing the Commissioner of Patenti f Washington, I). C. 

